Ferrer, Almagro Advance To Quarter-Finals For Third Time

Written by: Staff on 4th June 2012

Ferrer, Almagro Advance To Quarter-Finals For Third Time

epa03248506 David Ferrer of Spain returns to Marcel Granollers of Spain during their round of 16 match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 04 June 2012. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/06/23/Roland-Garros-Monday-Ferrer-Almagro-Reach-QFs.aspx)

Two Spaniards, sixth seed David Ferrer and No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro, both reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the third time on Monday.

Ferrer cruised past fellow Spaniard and No. 20 seed Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. He has lost only 25 games in four matches.

Ferrer, who lost just nine of 36 points in the third set, hit 41 winners to improve to 4-0 lifetime and 9-0 in sets against Granollers. The 30-year-old Ferrer now has a 449-239 tour-level match record as a professional.

“I don’t know if [it’s] my best tennis, it is difficult to say that,” admitted Ferrer. “But, of course, I am playing very well this tournament. I try do my best in every match. I [have] worked hard to come back into [the] Top 10.”

Ferrer reached the last eight in 2005 (l. to Nadal) and 2008 (l. to Monfils). He will next meet either fourth seed Andy Murray or French hope and No. 17 seed Richard Gasquet.

“David is a solid player, he doesn’t make many mistakes,” said Granollers. “His returns are really good. He’s got all the shots, in fact. I’m really happy to have reached the round of 16. I’ve played three matches that were really tight, really difficult. David played better than me today.”

Almagro recorded the 199th clay-court win of his career to beat eighth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.

“I’m very happy,” said Almagro. “I think I played great tennis today. The day was a little bit cloudy, but now it’s really sunny for me. [The] win is one of the best moments of my career and I want to enjoy [it].”

It was Almagro’s eighth straight match win and first Top 10 win since the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (d. Berdych) in March. Like Ferrer, Almagro has yet to drop a set at the tournament.

“He was a better player than me today,” said Tipsarevic. “It’s very simple. Sure, the weather conditions were not in my favour. It was cold. I couldn’t really use my serve as well as I was using it in the previous rounds. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t use the small amount of chances that I had and I didn’t really put him under pressure and make him play his best tennis.”

The 26-year-old Almagro, who has lost in the last eight to Rafael Nadal in 2008 and 2010, has won two ATP World Tour titles this year at the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo (d. Volandri) and the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur (d. Baker). He is now 38-11 on the season.

Topics: 10sballs.com, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Roland Garros, Spanish tennis news, Sports, Tennis News